Empowered Women And The Rise Of The Self-Love Ring

Last week I was sat working, writing a post with my phone at the side of me playing Louise Pentland’s latest vlog. I was pretty impressed to see that she’d decided to love herself more, and bought herself a ‘self-love ring’ to commemorate the occasion. She even had a little ceremony (fuelled by wine) where she made some promises to herself.

Louise then explained that she’s in a loving, respectful, committed relationship, she lives with her boyfriend and they have a baby together, and she’s just not that fussed about marriage-but she wanted a ring because she missed wearing her engagement and wedding rings from her previous marriage. Well, that makes perfect sense to me.

She’s not the only one doing this, either. Some women are ‘marrying themselves’ and calling the relationship ‘sologamy’. Women everywhere are buying themselves engagement rings, and I am all for this trend.

Where did it originate from?

I don’t really know where the idea came from originally, but it seems to have become popular in 2016. I suspect the self-love ring craze has been driven by the following:

Social media like Instagram and Snapchat, especially trends like the no makeup selfie that became really popular.

Celebrities preaching self love and acceptance, and the rise of people asking photographers not to edit their shots (I’m a photographer myself and I correct lighting in my shots, photoshop out something that shouldn’t be in the background-like a stray piece of rubbish in a beautiful landscape-but I don’t slim someone down, correct blemishes or smooth hair-because I believe the subject is beautiful as they are).

Meditation and mindfulness — taking time out of the day to be present within yourself. Research has shown that it can reduce stress, depression and anxiety and experts encourage people to do this.

Some people think that a self-love ring is anti-engagement but, like Louise explains in her vlog, that’s not the case. They represent your commitment to yourself, that you’ll put yourself first and look after your own wellbeing. Some women report that this positively affects their relationship as they’re not relying on their partner to make them happy.

Demonstrating to yourself that you’re confident and empowered doesn’t have to come in the form of a ring. There’s other ways to show your love for yourself — treat yourself to some clothing that you’ve been wanting for a while, have a spa day or just invest some time into you!